Episode #2 Recap

Okay, Everybody Out of the Pool!

(Thursday, 4.20.2006)

The heroes break-up a weapons deal gone bad between Syndicate captain Dobrinya “Donnie” Agron and ex-VIPER agents The Worm and Jake at an abandoned factory, Green Scales and Gauges. Donnie is almost killed by a devastating claw attack from Feral Cat and vows revenge. Gumshoe releases Worm on a promise that he will leave the city, never to return. The heroes obtain several pulson blasters and a briefcase containing $250K in counterfeit money. They leave the gangsters and Jake tied up in storage crates and contact the police

They overhear or extract the following information:

• Under the cover of an unseasonable fog, a group of heavily armed, perhaps power-armored soldiers using a mix of conventional and blaster weapons hijacked a shipment of energy weapons a few days ago (see War Machine). Worm had planned to sell the weapons to the Syndicate.

• The Syndicate. The heroes learn of the existence of an organization in the city that is trying to acquire as many energy weapons as possible as a prelude to enforcing its control over all criminal activity in the city.

o The leader of this organization, known variously as The Spook, or The Prince, or The Mask, has already consolidated organized crime in the city to an unprecedented degree. He is a shadowy figure rumored to have supernatural powers.

o A Russian gangster known as Konstantin or Kostya is the underboss for the Theater and Cultural Districts. He ordered the assassination of the vigilante Revenant in retaliation for the slaying of one of his captains.

• VIPER. The heroes also learn that VIPER loyalists working under the command of a high-ranking VIPER lieutenant known as the Steel Serpent have gone underground in preparation for a major operation. These agents operate out of a secret base downtown known as The Steel Citadel.

Later that evening, returning to Fatale Investigations, Gumshoe discovers a FedEx package containing decaying lilies and a card from someone claiming to be the Grey Gremlin.

Before bursting into phosphorous flame, the card bore the message: “I’m going to make you pay for what you’ve done.” Gumshoe decided to save this problem for another day.

Serpents & Syndicates

(Friday (Day), 4.21.2006)

Cypher discovers that the Syndicate money is counterfeit and turns it in to the MCPD.

Gumshoe meets with a Secret Service agent regarding the counterfeit money and learns that the person responsible is probably the Russian organized crime figure Isaak “the Banker.” The Banker is known to be an unparalleled counterfeiter and to have extensive connections in the former Soviet Union in banking and finance; he is also known to have been active for some time in Israel.

Gumshoe also leans on his contacts on the street and learns that the Steel Citadel is located somewhere near the Detroit Tunnel and that there is an entrance in the basement of a downtown office building. He sets his assistant, Madeleine, on a cyber-search for businesses in the city that have names that pun on serpents.

Feral Cat investigates Dante Sykes’s apartment and discovers a secret room with a Revenant costume, garrotes and other tools of the vigilante trade, and Sykes’s journal. From the journal he learns:

• The Syndicate consists of one leader, five underbosses (each responsible for a section of the city). Each underboss is supported by three captains, each with his own crew of loyal henchmen.

• Revenant has tangled with Konstantin in the past. He underestimated the man and had to flee after finding the Syndicate underboss to be a fearsome hand to hand combatant and apparently immune to physical pain. Later, Sykes was able to track down and kill one of Konstantin’s captains, Piotr.

• Konstantin has been known to associate with another underboss, One-Eyed Jack, who operates mostly in the downtown area. He is thought to have been the long-time right-hand man to Card Shark, the leader of a card-themed criminal gang operating in several U.S. cities. It appears that either Card Shark’s gang is working closely with the Syndicate in the city or that One-Eyed Jack has broken off from the Card Shark organization.

• Several highly-placed organized crime figures who refused to join with the Syndicate or to leave the city have died of sudden heart attacks.

The Serpent Strikes

(Friday Night, 4.21.2006)

A typical Friday night in Millenium City, except . . .

The supercriminal Hyde is sighted on Interstate 75, heading towards the city center.

A power surge from the OSEC plant on Peche Island blows transformers all over the city; remaining power from the plant is shut off. Millenium City enters a complete blackout; police and other emergency responders are overwhelmed.

Homestead

Cypher and Dementia decide to investigate the disappearance of Redeemer and the other Champions by breaking into their headquarters, Homestead. While investigating the team’s vault, the base (and the experimental jet parked on its roof) are struck by a microwave blast from the OSEC platform, in orbit over the city. Most of the base is destroyed; Dementia uses her telekinesis to dig the pair out of the rubble.

The Steel Serpent disseminates a video file, demanding the release of the Supreme Serpent in six hours and threatening attacks on other cities in the orbital path of the OSEC platform.

Rencen

Feral Cat pursues Hyde to Renaissance Center Fashion Place, where the two battle in Macy’s. Hyde underestimates his opponent, and Feral Cat seizes on the opportunity to land a flurry of blows, knocking the hulking villain unconscious somewhere in the ladieswear department.

The Power Plant

Gumshoe picks up Cypher and Dementia in the flying Buick and the trio head to a battle in progress between VIPER, PRIMUS, and a group of well-organized but adolescent heroes led by a young man wearing the costume of a retired hero, The Bowman.

Cypher disables the satellite link to the OSEC platform and the team faces off against a prototype VIPER hovertank, cleverly disabling it by shutting off life support to the crew inside.